High Standard

[Jorge]

I want to know your opinion about a .22 HD Military High Standard. It's posible buy one for a friend. But it's old gun, and no more info I had. I like much the grip I feel on it.

Thank you

[sm]

Jorge,

http://www.histandard.info/

Mr. Stimson is a member of THR, so perhaps he will chime in.

I also respect Mr. Jim Keenan, Jim Watson, and Old Fuff for their input on these for starters.
We have some other keen folks familiar with these, and I hope they will chime in as well.

[Sunray]

"...But it's old gun..." That's not a bad thing. Original High Standard pistols were very good target pistols. Price and condition matters, of course, but original High Standard .22's are high quality.
"...like much the grip..." Same size and angle as a Colt .45 Government Model.

[parisite]

HD Military High Standards were used extensively in WWII in training and in special ops units. Fit, finish, and craftsmanship on these were extraordinary.
As all early High Standards, they were built on the old slant grip frame.
High Standard changed over to the same grip angle frames as the Colt 1911 very close to 1970.

[CDH]

The early Military's are good pistols, but may be more valuable as a collectable than as a shooter because if it's in really nice shape, you might not want to shoot it...much. :)

The High Standards made in Hamden and then East Hartford are considered the best quality shooters. When the company was auctioned off to the Texas people, the brand suffered greatly in quality and reliability, although I've read in various places that they're doing a little better that way now.

[Maia007]

I had one for several years and loved it. At the time, I was poor and wanted a Colt Woodsman...so I traded it. Live and learn.

A terrific shooter that I really wish I could have back. So if you have the chance.......

[John Stimson]

The MODEL H-D MILITARY was made from mid 1945 until late 1949 with a few later guns through late 1950. These were very popular guns and had the third largest productin numbers of any model name Productin was begun in the New Haven plant and the later guns were from the East Haven plant although they were all marked New Haven. To confuse things a little more, the corporate headquarters was in the Hamden Plant.

Workmanship on this model is excellent as is accuracy.

There is appears to be some confusion in the other responses.

The Model H-D Military had the slant grip not the military grip angle liks the 1911 and like the 106, 107 and SH series pistols which had the grip angle was close to the grip angel of the 1911. The High Standards with the military grip angle were made begining in early 1965.


The Model H-D Military was not used as a training pistol by the military in WWII. The training pistol was the U.S.A. MODEL H-D and the silenced version made for the OSS was the U. S. A. MODEL H-D MS.


Theere are three models that carry the H-D nomenclature.

The Model H-D was the first . Introduced in January 1940 and continued through January 1942. This model had an adjustable rear sight, a trigger over travel screw, No separate safety, checkered walnut gips and came in 4.50" or 6.75" medium weight barrels. THere were checkered walnut grips with a thumbrest that was sold separately for this model. THe finish was a well polisded blue.

The U. S. A. MODEL H-D was the WWII training pistol of this family. It had a fixed rear sight, no trigger overtravel screw, only the 4.50" medium weight barrel ( except for sildence MS version), an external safety lever, checkered black plastic grips This mosel was introduced about September 1943 and continued through about May of 1945. The early production of this model were blued and teh later models after about Otober 1944 were parkerized.

The MODEL H-D MILITARY was a civilian model that appeared slowly after production of the U. S. A Model H-D ceased. These models went back to the adjsutable sight and both barrel lengths. The external safety from the training pistol remained. The trigger over travel screw and the walnut girps returned after they exhausted the training pistol black plastic grips left over from the previous model and the frames from the training pistol without the overtravel screw were used up. There were a few minor internal changes during the production of the MODEL H-D MILITARY but nothing really noteworthy unless you need spare parts. This production ran from May or June 1945 through late 1949 when the production lots of significant size ended. The phase out was because of the introduction of the lever letter series which were the first production .22's to have the removable barrels.

In the transition between the U. S. A. MODEL H-0 and teh MODEL H-D MILITARY, thereaee a few guns , perhaps a couple dozen the had mixed characteristics but these are seldom seen and I nkow of only three survivors. THis was just something they make to have pistols to sell once the govenmentt controls were lifted ( except fot the post war price and material allotment controls).

If you buy it, I think you wil like it.

[parisite]

My friends, Mr. Stimson's information in the above post you can take to the bank.
He is the premier High Standard historian in the country.

[Jorge]

Thank you Mr. John Stimson is't really surprising read your knowledge about this guns. I'll try to show some pictures.